Randy Flores, Drafting Dreams & The 20-Year Cardinal Reunion

**SPEAKER_2** (0:03)
Welcome back to the program. Joining us in studio, Cardinals' Assistant GM, Scouting & Acquisition and 2006 World Series Champion. Love hearing that, don't you?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:13)
It feels good.

**Randy Flores** (0:14)
It does. It brings a smile.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:16)
Mr. Randy Flores joins us. 20 years, crazy 20 years.

**Randy Flores** (0:20)
How about that?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:22)
And they're doing the big anniversary, the big reunion, September 11th?

**Randy Flores** (0:26)
The Cardinals bring everyone in too. They bring the players in, their families, their kids, their uncles, aunts, I don't know, friends, neighbors, whatever. They do it right. They're bringing everyone in for 20 years to celebrate.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:34)
That's a big deal. Yeah, that's amazing. That's a big deal. So, man, you're in studio to talk about this Draft365, Scouting MLB's Future Stars.

**Randy Flores** (0:44)
Pretty sweet.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:44)
It's pretty sweet. It's a thing on YouTube, on the Cardinals YouTube page. And it's basically unprecedented access to you guys when you scout players up to draft day.
And it is, if you like seeing how the sausage is made, this is a watch for you. And it's like a good 25 minutes.

**Randy Flores** (1:01)
Yeah, it took like a lot of trust too, right? Because there's proprietary information there. You could see that like, when they're looking at it. And then you just have to trust while you're wearing a mic that the producers and the editors are going to like, just know that like, you're going to say some stupid stuff.
And you have to trust that they'll leave that on the cutting floor because I, you know, when you're doing things live, you're not perfect. And so the trust that went in from the front office to my boss and from the business side to the production side, I think, allowed just an incredible opportunity, to your point, to see behind the curtain how the sausage is made and in an engaging way that only happens if you're not scripted and you had trust.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:40)
Yeah. You know, every time a father has a catch with a son for the first time, they're thinking to the back of their head, my son is going to be a St. Louis Cardinal. I mean, how, you know, as the guy who's in charge of, of going around and picking players who they think will might, you know, might be a future superstar on the, in the MLB, how hard is it to get to the Major Leagues?

**Randy Flores** (2:04)
It's impossible. It's impossible.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:05)
What are the percentages?

**Randy Flores** (2:06)
The math is the math. I wish I was a math guy and could tell you, I should have come prepped, but it's impossible. Just think, someone Google how many people pay Little League ball and then how many people play Major League Baseball. Like the math is insane.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:18)
Is it like 0.00001% of...

**SPEAKER_5** (2:21)
Yes.

**Randy Flores** (2:22)
And the parents think it's like 90%, right? I have kids, young kids, and what I just find is that like, look, if the kid is not the driver of the sport, if he is not the one initiating practice, the one initiating, getting extra work, then one not driving the machine, there's no chance it's going to happen. And the parents just sometimes they go a little over the top on trying to drive it rather than having their kid drive it.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:45)
Okay. Randy, I did the math. Okay.
So we got about 2 million boys and girls playing Little League. All right. Yeah. And the overall chances of making it to the MLB are extremely low, roughly 0.5%.

**Randy Flores** (2:58)
There we go.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:58)
Yeah. I Googled it and it said 0.0125.

**Randy Flores** (3:01)
Yeah, I think I would take his over the doors, but his Google machine is better.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:05)
I don't think, I don't know. It's AI. You trust AI, dude?

**Randy Flores** (3:08)
I don't know. Is it Grock?

**SPEAKER_5** (3:10)
Or is it, well, Bing is what we're looking for.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:11)
It's actually Gronk.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:14)
It's a very dumb version of Gronk.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:16)
It's Rob Gronkowski. I still believe that.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:19)
I just asked Rob Gronkowski, and he just ate a Tide Pod, and he said that it's 0.0125, so I trust Gronk.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:26)
So 0.0125 of all kids who start Little League will make it to the MLB.

**Randy Flores** (3:31)
And then, and not only that, then you have to stay in the big leagues, right? That's just making it one day. And so like, I just have such an appreciation as someone who went through the gauntlet of college baseball, minor league baseball, got to the big leagues, somehow, someway, the stars aligned, and I carved out a few years. It just gives me an appreciation for the kids that are selected, that they've already passed the test. And now, it's about getting the most out of their ability, so that the game, the game will tell you how far you can go.